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Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Latvia as a future Member State is interested in a coordinated, effective and transparent European Union policy on immigration and asylum. These issues would indeed be better resolved on the European Union level. Therefore we consider today’s discussion to be of great importance. The 3 areas we are going to discuss – immigration, frontiers and asylum – are closely linked.
The asylum issue should be addressed in a comprehensive way, taking into consideration both the internal and external aspects. The protection of asylum seekers should be provided as close to the country of origin as possible, with the assistance of the European Union.
Latvia will be one of those countries that would bear direct responsibility for the management of the European Union external border.
Therefore Latvia is interested in creating an integrated system for the management of the external borders of the European Union. To this end, an increase in European Union funding for external border management could be worth considering. The 4 criteria put forward by the Commission form a good basis for elaborating a burden-sharing mechanism.
An important aspect in management of the external border and control of immigration flows is effective cooperation with third countries. In this context, concluding readmission agreements with the relevant third countries, for instance Russia, is highly desirable. Creating a financial instrument for the return of illegal immigrants to their country of origin is worth considering.
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